When I first started freelancing the last thing on my mind was kids, my thoughts were more focused on more immediate issues, issues like “will I earn enough to eat meat this month” or “will I be living in a box soon”. While these issues are still nattering away at the back of my mind, I now have a different set of problems to deal with… usually to do with crying, poo or vomit. That’s right, I’ve become a dad.
Even with 9 months notice I was still not prepared for the arrival of my first born son, I knew it was bound to effect my freelancing but I was ignorant of how much. Many restless nights and interrupted days followed as my son began learning how to exist, which turns out isn’t so easy at that age!
He’s three and a half months old as I write this blog post, the second post I might add since he was born (I’m finally getting better at managing my time!) and it’s starting to get a little easier as he begins sleeping through the night more. As he gets older and gradually more and more mobile a fresh set of worries are now loitering at the back of my mind, how will I be a freelance web designer and look after a child at the same time.
It’s fine at the moment as my Wife has taken a year off work to look after the little dude but what will happen when she eventually goes back to work? My immediate thought was that I had two choices, the first – I simply shift my working hours around so that I take care of him until the Mrs get’s home then we can swap and I work into the evening. The second option is that I simply take on less work, so that I can work in much shorter stints and still look after the little one.
It’s not going to be easy but I’d love to hear from some other freelancer mums or dads about how they deal with the obvious problems having a child brings, so yeah if you have a sprog and freelance leave a comment below!